[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 17 (Monday, April 27, 1998)]
[Page 686]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Streamlining the Granting of Waivers

April 21, 1998

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

Subject: Streamlining the Granting of Waivers

    Five years ago, the Vice President asked you to create reinvention 
laboratories in your departments and agencies and to streamline the 
granting of waivers of internal agency rules within them so the 
laboratories could more effectively promote innovation. These waivers--
delegations of authority to deviate from existing internal agency 
policies and procedures--are often sought by front-line employees who 
are trying to make their operations work better, cost less, and get 
results that Americans care about. The Vice President and I emphasized 
such measures in the Blair House Papers last year, when we encouraged 
you to delegate more power to front-line employees to unlock the 
enormous potential of the Federal workforce.
    Your departments and agencies have responded, and Federal employees 
have used waivers to facilitate innovation and provide excellent 
customer service. For example, the Coast Guard marine safety programs 
have increased managerial flexibility for field commanders to waive 
unnecessary requirements that had previously accounted for over one-half 
million work hours annually. The Department of Agriculture's Animal 
Plant Health Inspection Service's Tort Claims Adjudication Team used a 
waiver to reduce the processing time for tort claims of less than $2,500 
from 51 days to 8.
    Based on these experiences, I am directing you, where you determine 
that it is appropriate, to adopt some of the best practices developed by 
agencies. These best practices include the following characteristics:
      1. Waiver requests are acted upon within 30 days or less. After 30 
      days, the originating entity within the agency can assume approval 
      and implement the requested waiver.
      2. Those officials having authority to grant or change internal 
      agency rules can approve waiver requests, but only the head of an 
      agency can deny a waiver request.
      3. Officials who have the authority to grant waivers are 
      encouraged to identify potential waiver opportunities and extend 
      waivers to their own agencies.
    The Vice President's team at the National Partnership for 
Reinventing Government (NPR) is ready to assist you in developing a 
waiver process based upon lessons learned and best practices from 
agencies that have experience with waivers. Some of you already have 
this type of waiver process in place for reinvention laboratories. I 
direct you to take every opportunity to extend this process throughout 
your agency.
    You should report to the Vice President on actions taken to 
implement this memorandum by July 1, 1998.
    This memorandum does not apply to waiver requests by grant program 
recipients nor does it apply to the granting of waivers to statutory 
requirements or practices required by law. It applies to those internal 
agency rules not codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.
                                            William J. Clinton